The MEP who led calls to cap fund managers’ bonuses has slammed Sharon Bowles, the ex-chairman of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, for taking a job with the London Stock Exchange.

Sven Giegold, a German Green, took to Twitter today (22 August) to brand Bowles’ move to the financial sector directly from the influential ECON Committee a “swapping of sides” that “shamed democracy”.

He said that Bowles led important negotiations over EU rules governing the London Stock Exchange and added, “citizens distrust such revolving doors!”.

Bowles, a British Liberal, steered the ECON committee during the financial and eurozone crisis, shaping the EU’s regulatory reform of financial markets.

She defended her decision to join the London Stock Exchange as a non-executive director and said she would provide “regulatory challenge and work with supervisors.”

Giegold pushed for a bonus cap for UCITS investment fund managers in the last Parliament. He wanted to cup bonuses so they could not be more than managers’ basic salaries. The move was voted down by the European Parliament in July 2013. He continues to sit on the ECON Committee after being re-elected in May.

EU staff leaving the institutions to work for big business or lobbyists – the “revolving doors phenomenon” is controversial.

A recent report severely criticised the EU’s executive for its closeness to corporates and the Commission was probed over ten examples of perceived abuses of the revolving-door system last year.

Background

Sharon Bowles, a British Liberal, was chairman of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee during the financial and Eurozone crisis, shaping the EU’s regulatory reform of financial markets. She decided not to seek re-election in May's European elections. It was announced that she would join the board of the London Stock Exchange on 15 August.

Sven Giegold, a German Green, served with Bowles on the ECON Committee. He pushed for a bonus cap of UCITS investment fund managers during the last Parliament.